American Civil War historiography and publishing blogged daily by Dimitri Rotov.

12/27/2006

"History" and eggnog

To many, history seems worthless unless used as a raw ingredient in some sort of brew, usually political or military analysis. For such readers, Investor's Daily weighed in yesterday with a potent recipe for history nog.

To get your run-of-the-mill nonfiction reader good and drunk on punditry spiked with "history," first assemble your ingredients in a work area cleaned of messy detail.

Pour some strong spices in a bowl: "[Colin] Powell seems to be morphing into the McClellan of his time."

Break your eggs into the bowl; don't worry if they are rotten or sound: "He'd been sacked by Lincoln as commander of the Army of the Potomac for his reluctance to commit his troops to battle."